


Liability

by merlypops



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: (but it's not that graphic), Blood and Injury, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, Hospitals, Hurt Jim, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Kissing, M/M, Major Character Injury, Memories, Space Husbands, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, pretty much tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 22:33:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7732267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merlypops/pseuds/merlypops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Goddamnit, Jim!” Leonard said grumpily, tangling his fingers in Jim’s hair and anchoring him there where Leonard knew without a doubt that he was safe. “You’re gonna be the death of me, kid. I swear it.”</p><p>
  <b>Jim  gets hurt. Leonard is there to pick up the pieces.</b>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liability

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is for my friend Keeley. She's the Spock to my Jim. (And the ensign in this fic might be you... "HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!")
> 
> I hope you guys will enjoy this!  
> I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope you'll have fun reading!  
> Enjoy! :D

“Goddamnit, Jim! You’re gonna be the death of me, kid. I swear it.”

Leonard McCoy was _not_ exaggerating.

James Tiberius Kirk gave Leonard heart palpitations on a worryingly frequent basis. Leonard did _not_ think it was fair.

Jim got to prance around and be all Captain-like while Leonard was left to pick up the pieces when everything inevitably fell apart. (Not that the doctor was _really_ complaining – Jim could be a liability when he wanted to be and Leonard wouldn’t trust anyone else with him.)

This was beside the point though.

Jim was a liability –

But he was _Leonard_ ’s liability… and that made all the difference. 

*

Leonard’s Wednesday started the same as always.

He woke up at seven and worked out in the gym for half an hour before he braved the canteen for lukewarm porridge and apple juice. He sat with Jim and Spock, and complained about the terrifying endlessness of space – using several new and inventive swear words which Jim seemed to be impressed by – and then Leonard sat back and listened to the captain and Spock discuss their tasks for the day.

Jim would be beaming down to an unexplored planet this morning with a group of science and communications officers. He was bringing as few armed guards as he could get away with, claiming that he didn’t want to ‘alienate’ the locals before they’d had a chance to befriend them. Spock pursed his lips at the term ‘alienate’. Leonard rolled his eyes so hard they almost fell out of his head.

“I can’t believe _neither_ of you laughed,” Jim complained as he nibbled on one of his toast crusts idly, glancing around the crowded room with a restless energy he always seemed to possess. “I was at least expecting a lecture from Spock about how that term is illogical or something. You guys are letting me down!”

“Goddamnit, it’s too early for this, Jim,” Leonard grumbled, trying not to let his lips twitch up into a smile because that might lessen the effect of his scowl somewhat. Spock merely continued to drink his green tea with a calm expression on his face.

“Oh, _fine_ ,” Jim said, clearly sulking as he shoved the rest of his toast into his mouth. Leonard’s lips quirked up without his permission.

“You’re a comic genius, Jim,” he said, utterly deadpan. Spock looked between the two of them curiously and Leonard felt his lips twitching into a smile. “Now try to come back here in one piece, okay? Don’t make me patch you up again.”

“You got it, Bones,” Jim said, snapping the doctor a lazy and _incredibly_ sarcastic salute. Leonard fought the urge to trip Jim over on his way past. “I’ll see ya later, doc.”

“Be careful, Jim.” 

*

Leonard almost felt like he shouldn’t even be _surprised_ when Jim was carried into the _Enterprise_ ’s Med Bay later that afternoon by three ensigns. The captain sported a ripped golden shirt, a winning smile, and a dangerous amount of blood loss, and Leonard loudly cursed every unfriendly species within a million miles as he helped lift Jim onto a spare bed.

Jim’s torso and arms were a mess of bloodied slashes, presumably injuries sustained during the trip down onto the surface of the planet, and Leonard bit his tongue hard enough he drew blood as he fought not to say anything to Jim that they might regret in front of their colleagues.

The captain simply lay there and bled all over the clean white sheets, complacent and uncharacteristically calm enough that Leonard was genuinely worried they were going to lose him.

One of the ensigns was still lingering nearby, covered in Jim’s blood and looking vaguely traumatised, and Leonard clicked his fingers to get her attention as he checked the captain’s vitals swiftly with his tricorder. It didn’t look good.

“You still with us, kid?” he asked her and she flushed bright red, nodding jerkily as her blonde hair fell into her eyes. She brushed it away and streaked blood across her nose. Leonard sighed as he shoved a pair of scissors towards her. “Cut what’s left of his shirt off, will you?” he asked and she squeaked which he might have found funny in other circumstances. “We need to see what we’re working with and I need to get these bandages on him before he bleeds out.”

She shakily did as she was told and the doctor set his jaw grimly.

“Just another day in paradise,” Leonard snarled as he got to work. The ensign blanched and Jim’s lips twitched into a smirk. "Goddamnit, Jim - why won't you stop bleeding?!"

“I’m not a stuck pig, Bones,” the captain said, his tone mild as he lay limply in the bloody sheets before he let out a giggle that sounded vaguely hysterical. The ensign clumsily tugged his shirt free and the doctor dismissed her with a wave of his hand, and she hurried out of the Med Bay without looking back, hopefully going to seek out a shower.

“Yes, you are, Jim,” Leonard said, trying hard not to look fond when Jim made a stupid snorting noise as Christine Chapel appeared with a trolley full of mechanical bandages and other medical supplies which should staunch the flow of blood and knit his skin back together. Leonard’s expression was grateful as she left them nearby and the doctor was beginning to calm now as the adrenaline slowly bled out of his system.

“You’re such an idiot, Jim,” Leonard said, sighing deeply as he reached for the first bandage. Jim snorted again, loudly enough that a nearby nurse turned round with something like alarm, and Leonard plastered the most pleasant smile he possibly could to hide his scowl as he tugged the curtains shut around Jim’s bed.

Jim wiggled his eyebrows suggestively when he saw that Leonard had given them some privacy and the doctor gave a long-suffering sigh, pressing a hypo to Jim’s neck none too gently. The captain squirmed away just like always but he relaxed visibly when the medicine entered his system with a hiss. Leonard had included painkillers and something to calm him so that the flow of blood would slow but he wouldn’t be content until Jim was all stitched up with a blood transfusion and an IV to replace the fluids he’d lost.

“Thanks,” Jim breathed and he already sounded calmer as the medicine began to kick in. The captain’s sky blue eyes were dazed but Jim’s smile – less forced now that the pain was lessening – remained fixed firmly in place as Leonard began to unravel the closest bandages.

“You lie still and be quiet, okay, kid?” the doctor asked softly and his hand was warm as it carded through Jim’s hair. “Just let me fix you.”

*

Leonard worked while Jim slept.

The captain’s face was peaceful as Leonard carefully applied the bandages and the doctor relaxed further when he took a break to check Jim’s vitals on the tricorder again. Jim’s temperature was normal now and his heartrate was a calm, comforting rhythm.

Leonard pressed the last bandage down over one of the slashes on Jim’s forearms before he sank down into a chair beside the captain’s bed. Christine had popped in earlier while Leonard was working to ascertain whether Jim would have any permanent muscle or ligament damage – it didn’t look like it fortunately – and Leonard’s relief quickly gave way to exhaustion.

He dropped his head into his hands and thought longingly of dinner in the mess hall, a quiet drink with Jim, and then a long sleep with the younger man held safe beside him… but that probably wasn’t going to happen now. It was already well past dinner – it had taken a long time to piece Jim back together this time – and there was no way Leonard was letting Jim out of the Med Bay this side of Saturday for love nor money.

“Bones?” Jim’s voice was slurred but soft, like he’d picked up on the quiet of the Med Bay as night approached. His accent was familiar and lilting, and Leonard’s heart clenched painfully in his chest as he recalled just how close he’d come to losing the younger man today. “You okay?”

Leonard made an odd sort of choking noise and gripped the metal bars of the bed so tightly that his knuckles went white. Jim covered the doctor’s hand gently with his own and Leonard calmed as some of the tension bled away.

“Better now you are,” the doctor managed at length. Jim’s smile was softer now that it was just the two of them and it made Leonard’s throat thicken with something that definitely _wasn’t_ tears. “Goddamnit, kid,” Leonard said softly as the captain’s fingers laced securely with his. The last of the tension leaked out of his shoulders and a raw note entered the doctor’s voice without his permission. “What _happened_ down there, Jim?”

Jim’s quiet sigh shook the doctor to the core and Leonard exhaled shakily as he held Jim’s hand tighter.

“Turns out the locals weren’t very friendly,” Jim said softly, his jaw squared like he was in more pain than he was letting on. Leonard removed another hypo from the pack and Jim let him for once, tilting his head to one side to make it easier although he still screwed his face up at the sensation.

“Damn.” Leonard brushed a chaste kiss across Jim’s knuckles, lingering on the shallow scrapes and the bruise discolouring Jim’s little finger. Frowning, the doctor held the tricorder over it and cursed softly when he discovered the bone was fractured.

“This reminds me of our Academy days,” Leonard said as he rummaged through the trolley for something which he could set the bone with.

“How so?” Jim asked, his tone curious but heavy with weariness.

“You coming home covered in blood. Me fixing you up.”

Jim’s smile was weak at best but his eyes glittered faintly.

“You getting sentimental on me, Bones? I always knew you were an old romantic at heart.”

“You shut your mouth,” Leonard chided gently, his tone a direct contradiction to his words. He couldn’t help it though. Everything about their current situation – right down to the time of day and the sparkle in Jim’s beautiful eyes – had Leonard remembering those long nights on campus when Jim turned up with split knuckles or a bloodied nose and trusted Leonard to make him feel okay again.

It felt like a million years ago and, despite Leonard loathing that Jim managed to injure himself on what was almost a daily basis, he was glad he was here to patch Jim up again afterwards.

He was glad he had Jim.

“How do you feel?” Leonard asked softly and Jim wrinkled his nose up as he considered this, his skin pale against the bloodied sheets. Leonard would move him to a clean bed once he felt well enough to try standing.

“How do I feel?” Jim repeated it slowly, still sleepy and slightly high on pain medication.

Leonard’s smile was indulgent as he brushed the captain’s cheekbone gently with the pad of his thumb.

“I feel alive,” Jim said.

Leonard rolled his eyes.

“Very helpful, Jim, I’m sure,” the doctor said sourly but Leonard couldn’t deny the truth of that statement. Jim _did_ look alive… and Leonard had unfortunately seen enough of the contrary to prove it.

He’d seen Jim cold and lifeless _far_ too many times – enough that it haunted him whenever the captain got hurt – but Leonard had seen him _so_ alive too; when Jim was captaining the _Enterprise_ and commanding his crew; on the anniversary of the massacre on Tarsus IV when Jim was so stubbornly, _furiously_ alive; when Jim was signing peace treaties with alien races and representing Starfleet; when Jim was being brave and strong in the face of peril; when Leonard held Jim close and kissed him as they learnt each other all over again, falling a little more in love every time; when Leonard almost lost him but Jim fought fiercely to remain.

Jim’s expression was soft and almost _sweet_ , his hair golden beneath the bright white lights in the Med Bay, his lovely eyes deep enough to fall into. He smiled gently like he knew what Leonard was thinking.

“Think I need a kiss from you, Bones,” Jim said and Leonard smiled dryly when the captain’s lips twisted into a slight pout. “To make me feel better.”

“You should be so lucky, kid. You’re not gettin’ over-excited until I know for a fact you aren’t gonna bleed out in my Med Bay,” Leonard said but his relief made him giddy and Jim would have to have been blind to miss the love in the older man’s eyes.

“You don’t think your stitches will hold?” Jim asked innocently and Leonard resisted the urge to whack the captain around the head with a pillow.

“Goddamnit, Jim!” Leonard said grumpily, tangling his fingers in Jim’s hair and anchoring him there where Leonard knew without a doubt that he was safe. “You’re gonna be the death of me, kid. I swear it.”

Jim grinned and drew him into a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Please let me know what you thought by leaving comments and kudos as it means the world :) <3


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